Come join Spring/Easter Exchange!

Well it;s kinda looking like I was just babbling to myself in my last post as so far only 5 people have signed up for the exchange.
I;m forever hopeful and will leave the closing date until Tuesday to see if I can maybe entice some week-end blog readers.
C;mon ladies it;s SEVEN weeks you have just to stitch a little bitty piece. You know it will be fun and I know we all just love it when a stitchy package drops in our mail-box. Details to join are all in my previous post.
Have a nice week-end. Hugs!

SPRING/EASTER EXCHANGE!

I know that all you ladies are busy, busy, busy with all your projects for the year but I;m hoping that I can get some of you to take part in a Spring/Easter exchange. If you haven;t taken part in an exchange before do come and join in as it is a good way off making new friends and having fun. Okay now for the rules. It;'s been quite a while since I;ve organised anything like this so if there is something I have missed please let me know.

Make and finish a small stitched item with a Spring or Easter theme. e.g. ornament, pillow,needlcase,pinkeep etc.

Put together a package off 5 other items. Now you can include in this whatever you wish and they can be stitchy items/non-stitchy or both. Not everyone has a large stash or access to goodies or the money off course to buy stuff. So your 5 items can be to the value off whatever you wish it to be. It's all about the taking part and having fun. For people that are new to exchanging here are some ideas that you could include in your 5 items.

Stitchy - chart, threads, needles, buttons,ribbons,fabric,scissors,trimming,pins, measuring tape, magazine etc.

Non stitchy - stickers, notelets, chocolate,key-ring,fridge magnet,magazine,candles,scented sachets,etc.

When you are ready to send your package or you receive a package please email me and let me know the date you sent out and recieved. Please also get a proof of posting for your parcel.

Now I know it;s like a kid waiting for Santa but please don;t open your parcel or post pictures to your blog until Easter Week-end. This gives everyone time for their packages to have arrived and a chance to see everyones exchange.

Please also send a photograph to me off the package you send so I can put pictures on my blog over Easter week-end to let everyone see who has taken part.

If you would like to take part please send me an email by Saturday the 13th February at elaine.main@virgin.net (subject line Spring/Easter exchange) with the following information:

Name:

Address:

Blog Link:

Postal preferences:

Also include a little bio about your interests, stitching likes/dislikes and any information that you would like your partner to know about you. I will email the information to your partner and this way it means that it will be a surprise on opening day who your parcel is from.

The mailing out dates will be:

Sending Overseas from Europe/America/Canada/Australia etc - Monday 4th April

Within UK - Monday 11th April

Within US/Canada - Monday 11th April

Well I do hope that I will get some people to come along and join in and I haven;t sat here and babbled on about nothing..lol. I;d also really appreciate anyone mentioning this exchange on their next blog post to try and pass the word around and get as many people to join in the fun.

Hope everyone is having a great week-end. I shall hopefully be back in a few days with an up-date on my stitching. Hugs.

ps..GO PACKERS!!!!

February finish & some other stuff!

I've had some free time the past few days so I managed to stitch and make-up this cute little guy. He is the January chart from the SAL on the yahoo Oakhaven design group. Februarys chart arrived this afternoon and it looks like it is going to be a really fun SAL. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OakHavenDesigns/

I also did a few more stitches on Mr Cranberry but I had to put him aside this morning as the darn frog came for a visit and started jumping all over him. Trying to pick out stitches over one is noooo fun!

I got a lovely surprise recently when I received an email from Clare http://aimetu-clare.blogspot.com/ to tell me I had won a competition on her blog. She sent me this really pretty kit, I just love the delicate colours in this one, thanks Clare.

Thank you so much to Nicola http://allandale-cross-stitching.blogspot.com/ who nominated me for a Stylish blogger award.
I need to tell you five things about myself so here goes:

I went to Highland Dancing from about age 5 to 16. I won lots of medals and some trophys. I was only a few exams away from sitting my teachers exam but typical teenager I gave it up as I wanted to hang out with my friends and not go to dancing. It's like riding a bike though and even though I would probably cause a hole in the floor I still remember the steps..lol.

Being a bit of an old Moo myself I love Cows. From left to right meet Moozart, Moocho Amour,Disco, Hugs and Smoochies and Babe in Toyland.

I;m also a bit of a hand-bag collector. Now these ones in the photo aren;t mine and I don;t mean designer bags, just any old bags. I love hand-bags.

I love to watch movies. These are just a small peek at a few of my favourites. We have over 500 DVD/Blu-rays in our collection. So there is nothing I like better than watching a movie while I stitch.

I rarely have the time these days but I do love to Bake. One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting at the kitchen table and licking the remnants of the mixture for this chocolate cake with a big wooden spoon from my mothers baking bowl.

Well I hope you enjoyed learning a few more things about me. I;m supposed to nominate five bloggers but I would just find it impossible to choose. So I nominate anyone who reads my blog. I know some people don;t like to do these awards but I hope there are some people who will accept this award as I love to learn more about friends and new bloggers.
See ya soon, hugs

Nataly is having a wonderful Valentines Day Give-away go check it out..http://natalysneedle.blogspot.com and say Hi.

Short & Sweet!

Not a lot to post today. I;ve been busy working on my two Valentine exchange pieces. There both stitched, so it;s on to the fun part now trying to make them presentable. Sorry no piccies until after the 14th as both recipients are bloggers.

A little up-date on my Cranberry bird. I know it;s not much but as I tell myself every stitch counts..lol.


This cute little Ornie is a result of a change of plans. Regular readers will know that I had started stitching I;ll always be a Wildflower by Sam Sarah Designs as this years SAL with my stitching Sis Elaine. It wasn;t really working as a SAL so we have now decided we are doing Ornies from the Just Cross-stitch Ornaments magazines. This little guy was my choice for January.
Hope everyone is having a nice week-end. Hugs!

Valentine exchange & stitchy up-date!

I may be a bit late but I would really like to do a Valentines exchange this year. It would be the usual stitched piece and a little package of stitchy and valentine themed goodies. If anyone is interested in joining me can you please contact me at elaine.main@virgin.net

Having had this nasty flu virus for more than 3 weeks now I have been feeling a bit down. At the week-end I received the most wonderful pick-me-up package from my friend Maggie. She sent me the most gorgeous purply goodies, ribbon, fancy trim, scissors, cute Snowman chart and off course what brought the biggest smile to my face was this darling Snowman. Isn;t he just the cutest!!!

Three babies that I want to stitch for this year so I started this cute Lizzie Kate design last week. As you can see I am hoping at least one has a boy..lol.

I very rarely stitch over one as I just find it too stressful and being old off course my eyesight isn;t what it used to be. This design is Bluebird by Blackbird Designs. I couldn;t find any suitable blue thread in my stash so my bird will be Cranberry.

This is my Willow House (Blackbird Designs) wip that I started last year. I;ve been doing some work on the roof and windows in the past few weeks. I really love this piece and I am determined I will finish it this year.

Well I imagine my DH Ian will be muttering words like these tomorrow as he celebrates his 50th Birthday. It just seems like yesterday many of us were turning 40 and in a blink of an eye oh my it;s now 50. He is having the day off work and we are planning on going out to lunch with my parents. Family and friends will be coming over in the evening for a little celebration.

DH hates getting his photo taken but I will try and sneak some pictures of his day.

Oh and before I leave I have to mention that my stitching Sis Elaine has started posting on her blog again. Please, please go visit and leave a comment nagging oh no did I say that..lol asking her nicely to keep up-dating her blog. She does such wonderful interesting posts about her family, stitching and other stuff. http://shutterbuglady.blogspot.com/
Happy Tuesday. Hugs!

Late arrivals/A start & a finish!

Thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments and get well wishes on my last post. I wish I could tell you that we are all better now but sadly no. Ian and myself still have a chesty cough, headache, sore throat, runny nose. Craig is still coughing too and Heathers asthma has flared up. We can;t even get an appointment with our GP so I guess we will just have to put up and shut-up..lol.

Due to all the postal delays with the Snow in December a number of my gift packages/exchanges I sent out have only arrived at their destinations recently. I;m so lucky to have such wonderful friends old and new. I had such fun and enjoyment putting everything together and it makes my heart smile that they were loved by all.

The Snowman cube I made for Cath for our Christmas exchange. I also included a lot of other goodies in the package but I somehow forgot to take a photograph of the completed package.

I also have to send a big apology to Pirjo as I have no photographs off the wonderful exchange package she sent me. It included a beautiful Angel from Brookesbookspublishing she had stitched which I hung on my holly wreath. DH had put it into the loft with the decorations before I realised I hadn;t taken a picture. This is the Christmas exchange package I sent to Pirjo.

I have to confess I fell in love with this little pillow after I put it together and wasn;t sure about parting with it but I just knew my dear friend Catherine would love it. I;m not known for stitching many designs twice but I will definately be doing this one again for myself.

Like myself Sally is a bit of a Snowman lover so I just had to put this one together for her. I;m so glad she liked it and look forward to enabling her to collect more Snowmen.

This gift for sweet Maggie is my favourite Ornament finish off 2010 (even though I was rather embarassed when I saw it on Maggies blog and a button had fell off). Mental note must buy some stronger glue..lol).

Oh dear this flu is really affecting what little brain I have. I also received a really cute stitched card and gifts from Nia and once again I forgot to take a picture. This is the little sparkly penguin Ornie I made for her.

This little package was for another sweet friend Staci whose stitching, knitting and crafty talents just inspire me to want to do better. I just couldn;t resist sending the "sock queen" some socks..lol.

Now onto this years stitching. This is my SAL piece that I mentioned in my last post but forgot (yeah I know again) to post a picture.

These are the thread colours and fabric I have chosen. The colour of the fabric shows up quite well in this picture as you will see in the next one it looks as if I;ve changed the colour.

Not many stitches done but this is my start. It will take a little while to get used to the 32count but I am enjoying this one. The plan at the moment is to work on this two days a week, off course this is not set in stone.

My second finish off 2011 but oh dear it was nearly in the bin. I tried to stitch it too a backing piece off fabric and it was a disaster. Hopefully I've rescued it okay. I thought I might attach it to a pillow or a notebook.

I am really enjoying all the wonderful new starts people are doing in the crazy challenge. It;s introducing me to so many beautiful charts I haven;t seen before. Happy stitching everyone!

Christmas & New Year catch-up!

Well Christmas and the New Year holidays are now over and how glad am I as our festive season was awful. My DH became very ill on Christmas Eve and by late evening on Christmas Day my son Craig and myself both joined him. All three of us had the flu and spent the next ten days in bed. Apart from us all still having an annoying chesty cough we are thankfully getting better.
The week leading up to Christmas little Leon had some fun doing these crafts. He got so excited decorating the Gingerbread people. He was in floods of tears as the icing on them wouldn;t dry quick enough so he could eat one.

This is our table all set for Christmas dinner and the centre-piece our Christmas cake which is a very rich fruit cake that my Mum makes each year and my DH decorates.

On a quick visit to the local Supermarket I couldn;t resist purchasing Chilly to add to my every growing Snowman collection.

A very close friend always includes a Snowman for my collection in her gift each year but oh my I was just gobsmacked when I opened my parcels this year. Aren;t they all just darling.....

I also got treated to all these wonderful stitchy bits and pieces from Santa (Mrs Claus actually chose them all herself though..lol) As regular readers of my blog know I don;t quilt but I couldn;t resist this book for some inspiration to finish off my stitchy pieces. There are some beautiful projects in it.

I have been doing some stitching the past few days but I can;t show as it;s a Birthday gift for someone who reads my blog. Once I can find the threads in my stash this is going to be my first SAL piece for 2011. My stitching Sis Elaine and I have decided that our SAL won;t consist of us doing the same chart but a SAL where we encourge each other to work and finish our project. Our charts that we choose will be ones that we have had in our stash that for years , you know the ones that you always says you will get around to stitching one day. Well here goes my first piece is I will Always Be a Wildflower by SamSarah designs. I am also hoping to do some other stitching in between so will only post my progress at the end of each month on this one.

Once again I am playing catch up with blogging, emails etc. Looking forward to seeing what you have all been up too the past few weeks. Be back soon. Hugs!